


The First of Many

by narukamiyu



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, cameos by raphael and ignatz, in which byleth takes fishing way too seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22600402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narukamiyu/pseuds/narukamiyu
Summary: When one of the other mercenaries tells a young Byleth the story of a flounder that steals people's eyes, she becomes determined to track it down before it targets her own.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	The First of Many

**Author's Note:**

> commission for geoff. thank you <3

Byleth had been alive for merely a decade when she faced one of the biggest challenges of her life so far: the Abhorrent Flounder.

One of the men in her father’s mercenary band had taken to telling her a story, a legend about the local flounder that went around stealing people’s eyes. “It doesn’t matter how old or young they are, nor how strong or weak,” he said, wiggling his fingers ominously. “If it decides that your eyes are precious and worthy of being added to its stash...well, that’s it. You’re done for.”

Byleth found herself frowning. It was a strange story, but she had seen and heard weirder things in this world. “How big is it?” she asked, imagining a monstrosity of a fish. Surely it had to be bigger than anything she had ever encountered before? 

The mercenary grinned, his teeth glinting in the dim light of the tavern. “Some say that it is bigger than a wolf. Others claim that it’s bigger than even a house.”

...How did it get around in rivers, then? Byleth frowned even more deeply, trying to reconcile the image of this fearsome fish flopping through the water. Before she could open her mouth to ask more questions, her father placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed.

“All right, that’s enough.” He sent the mercenary a dark look. “You need to stop telling these wild stories to my child.”

“Hey, you never know! Her eyes might be a target, too.”

Byleth looked at the two adults curiously as they talked some more and laughed about this so-called legendary flounder. She wondered if her father would be able to catch it...he was good at fishing, right? He’d taught her how to do it, though she wasn’t as good as him yet.

The fish wouldn’t get her eyes. Her father would protect her, and she was capable of defending herself, too. 

A few minutes later, Jeralt led her into their room and tucked her in, reassuring her that the mercenary’s stories were ridiculous. With his words settling in her mind, Byleth quickly drifted off to sleep.

She was used to vivid dreams, but the one that visited her that night was particularly disturbing. Byleth was wading through a murky stream when something slimy wrapped around her ankles, the tight grip preventing any movement. She struggled for a minute before she noticed a gleam in the water, a set of orbs that resembled...eyes?

_ “You are not safe,” _ it rumbled. Byleth sighed and kept tugging her legs, trying to get free.  _ “I will get you one of these days.” _

With that, the unseen force suddenly let her go, causing her to fall backwards into the water —

— And into wakefulness. Byleth supposed that if she had a heartbeat, it would be racing. With a vague sense of annoyance at having awoken before the sunrise, she turned and closed her eyes again. That fish could say whatever it wanted, but she would catch it as soon as she got the chance.

* * *

“The local flounder. It steals people’s eyes, correct?”

“Eh?” The merchant gave her a funny look before laughing nervously. “What are you talking about, kid?”

Byleth tried not to get frustrated. None of the townspeople had been reliable sources so far, either laughing at her or changing the subject. Were they truly afraid of this one fish, or was she just being led on a wild goose chase?

Getting discouraged here wouldn’t help anyone, so Byleth just took a deep breath and stared up at the merchant. “Are there any famous fish nearby? I’d like to catch them.”

“I’m the wrong person to ask about this,” he grumbled, looking uncomfortable. “I’m busy, so go play somewhere else.” He quickly took his leave, and Byleth sighed through her nose.

“A flounder, huh? I wanna see you catch it!”

Byleth whipped around to face a boy who was grinning at her. He was bigger than her but seemed friendly enough. She relaxed a bit and looked at him curiously. “Why?”

The boy shrugged. “You said that it’s famous, right? Then it must taste good.”

“Raphael! She said that it steals  _ eyes _ !” The voice came from behind the boy, and Byleth realized there was another one. He was much smaller, with a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He let out a squeak of surprise when she fixed her gaze on him.

“So? Then we’ll be protecting people’s eyes AND getting a meal out of it! Sounds good to me.”

...Hm. She liked this “Raphael” person. Byleth looked at the two of them appraisingly and nodded. “You should help me catch it.”

Raphael looked ready to agree, but the other boy shook his head. “Sorry...we have to help our parents with their business this week.” He looked genuinely apologetic, so Byleth just shook her head and bowed a little.

“It’s fine. Thank you for showing your support.”

Raphael had deflated a little at the reminder, but he regained his energy immediately afterward. “Good luck anyway! If you’re ever in town again, you gotta tell us about it!”

So they knew she was a mercenary, only here temporarily. Interesting. “I will.”

As they parted ways, Byleth strengthened her resolve. Now she  _ really _ had to catch this fish.

* * *

“Are you ready?”

Byleth nodded, taking comfort from her father’s presence behind her. She cast the line and narrowed her focus to the pond in front of them. When she had asked to borrow her father’s fishing gear, he had actually insisted on accompanying her. Maybe he had been afraid that she would fall in…?

A tug at the line. Her eyes widened as she began reeling, Jeralt’s words of encouragement acting as her strength. This fish was a stubborn one, flailing around and sharply changing directions. But she refused to fail! This was the mission given to her, after all.

A few minutes passed, though it felt like much longer. With a grunt, she launched the fish out of the water and onto the dock, a small, satisfied smile gracing her face as she watched it flop around.

It was a flounder. Not as big as she’d imagined, but large enough to fulfill her arbitrary requirement for being a fish of legend. “Your days of stealing eyes are over,” she muttered seriously. Her father chuckled and patted her on the head.

“That was some expert fishing, if I do say so myself.” He hefted the flounder up and narrowed his eyes at it. “We’ll have to tell the others about it. They’ll be proud of you.”

_ And you? _ She didn’t ask it out loud, but he seemed to hear it anyway. With another soft laugh, he knelt down and smiled at her.

“You’re getting pretty damn good at this, kid. Good job.”

Hm. She’d have to fish more often; this was...a nice feeling. The praise that she received from the rest of the mercenary band wasn’t bad, either.

“Nice one, kid! You got your eyes back.” The mercenary who originally told her the story slapped her on the back when she and her father returned to the inn. She didn’t bother pointing out that there were too many flaws in the story for it to be real at this point, but she figured that there was no harm in having a little fun with it. 


End file.
